It’s no secret that women have historically faced more obstacles than men with respect to professional advancement and leadership. Even with women’s progress over the last 30 years, disparities still exist in the form of pay inequity, uneven opportunities for growth and unbalanced representation in senior level decision-making. However, the value of gender diversity—specifically in leadership—is widely acknowledged by companies today.
At Financeit, we promote a culture that leverages the benefits of diverse leadership, where women and all employees feel comfortable bringing their whole selves to work and unique perspectives to the table. We try diligently to create opportunities for the advancement of women and understand that a more diverse workforce that showcases the intersecting forms of individuals impacts innovation, profitability, as well as employees’ sense of belonging in meaningful ways.
When women become leaders, they bring different skill sets, creativity and a unique sense of self awareness that drive effective solutions. Women make team environments less authoritarian and more synergetic, while remaining bold and making stringent decisions as leaders. Lastly, having access to female leaders as role models is critical to the professional advancement of women in general, and helps young girls acquire skills, industry knowledge and a capacity to lead.
As part of International Women’s Day this year, we decided to interview a few of our female leaders on how they ascended to their current position and some of the challenges they faced as women while pushing through barriers.
Desiree Lashley, Senior Manager, Lending.
Your name, position and what your role entails
My name is Desiree Lashley. I am the Senior Manager of Lending, leading a team of Underwriters and Funding Officers. We adjudicate all loan application requests to ensure they fully comply with our established policies.
This year’s International Women’s Day theme is #embracequity. What does this mean to you?
When I think of embracing anything, I think of accepting it, and embracing equity, specifically for women, is when society accepts that there are equity gaps. We are open to having the conversations and identifying those inequities, which will hopefully solve those issues at hand.
How did you ascend to your current position, what challenges did you face as a woman, and how did you overcome them?
I give credit to being a people-first leader and focusing on developing my direct reports. I was lucky enough to have mentors and sponsors who advocated for me in rooms I wasn’t in.
One challenge I found was myself. I found it very difficult to self-advocate. I grew up in a culture where I was told to be seen and not heard, but to be seen and heard go hand in hand. I had to learn how to self-advocate to get the visibility needed to ascend in my career.
What is your proudest achievement while working at Financeit?
My proudest achievement would be the relationships that I’ve built. I have a team who respects me, and being able to work with them every day as we accomplish many goals is incredibly fulfilling.
Being able to broaden those relationships outside of my team and being a part of our Diversity and Inclusion Committee (DIBs) has helped me foster even stronger bonds across the organization. This has made me a great organizational citizen.
How can we encourage more women to pursue senior leadership roles in their careers?
I would give other women the advice my mentors give me, and that’s to be courageous. Be bold and speak up for what you want and know you deserve. If a situation is no longer serving you, that’s okay; just know when to move.
Clara Mendez, Director, Lending.
Your name, position and what your role entails
My name is Clara Mendez, and my position here at Financeit is Director of Lending. What that entails is collaborating with our Sales, Risks, Operations and Technology team to ensure a sound lending operation.
This year’s International Women’s Day theme is #embracequity. What does this mean to you?
Embracing equity means being aware of the journey of women’s rights, which is really important to me. Understanding it’s been a long journey that’s continual, and having an overall awareness of the local and global importance of providing equitable resources for communities that have dealt with systemic oppression (is what can potentially lead to greater equity for women).
What challenges did you face as a woman, and how did you overcome them?
As a woman and leader, some of the biggest challenges I’ve faced are getting out of my own way. I’ve focused on listening to myself, finding my voice, and not being scared to come off as unreasonable or wrong. Being my biggest champion is how I’ve overcome these challenges.
What is your proudest achievement while working at Financeit?
My proudest achievement at Financeit has been scaling the lending and operations division alongside my team. We’ve grown significantly year over year, and we’ve done that with efficiency and our partner’s experience top of mind. I am proud to be a part of building the strategy and vision that helped us to achieve that growth.
How can we encourage more women to pursue senior leadership roles in their careers?
We’re still at a global stage where the power holders are predominantly male. There’s a choice to be made, and one of the choices is to embrace growth from within. Providing mentorship resources, and fostering open dialogue would help women within the company grow into senior roles.
Julie-Anne Cardinal, VP, Deputy General Counsel
Your name, position and what your role entails
My name is Julie-Anne Cardinal. Everybody calls me JAC for short. I am Vice President, Deputy General Counsel. In a nutshell, I am a lawyer here at Financeit.
This year’s International Women’s Day theme is #embracequity. What does this mean to you?
Embracing equity means leaning in. It means looking for those opportunities for change and including men in that process to keep them accountable. Both men and women need to look for ways to level the playing field and move forward in this new and exciting time.
What is your proudest achievement while working at Financeit?
My proudest achievement while working at Financeit had nothing to do with being a lawyer or the law. Last September, I got to host and lead the steering committee that brought our senior leaders together for our national conference. The theme was ‘Better Together’ and the idea was to bring everybody back together for the first time since Covid. It was an energizing day where people got the chance to reconnect and find their mojo.
Everyone was fired up, and productivity went through the roof. It was about making those familial connections that are important in the workplace. At the end of the day, you spend so much time with your coworkers—we’re all like family.
What challenges did you face as a woman, and how did you overcome them?
Well, I’m very privileged, and I was supported by many senior people in my career right from the get-go. The worst bit of advice I ever got was to be patient. And ignoring that advice is responsible for the first part of the question, which is how I got to where I am. I never feared taking on a new job, challenge, or leaving an organization. I even changed careers at age 31 and went to law school! I got to where I am from working hard and never fearing the next thing.
How can we encourage more women to pursue senior leadership roles in their careers?
One of the ways we can encourage women to seek more leadership roles is to encourage them not to be patient. Seek change. Get out of your comfort zone. Try that new challenge when it’s around the corner. Some folks start their careers with a clear line that they want to achieve senior leadership roles, while others don’t. If we encourage the fundamentals—change, challenge, getting out of your comfort zone–I think senior leadership will happen naturally after that.
Susan Duffy, Chief Risk Officer (CRO)
Your name, position and what your role entails
I’m Susan Duffy, the Chief Risk Officer at FinanceIt. I’m responsible for ensuring that Financeit’s, credit, and operational risks are identified, managed and mitigated. In that role, I’m responsible for our merchant risk, fraud, credit risk, and risk reporting and analytics.
This year’s International Women’s Day theme is #embracequity. What does this mean to you?
Embracing equity means being part of the efforts to ensure everyone is treated fairly, whether in the workplace or in my personal life.
How did you ascend to your current position, what challenges did you face as a woman, and how did you overcome them?
A big part of where I’ve landed today was having supporters throughout my career, especially early on, who promoted me within the workplace, including the male colleagues and leaders I reported to. Some challenges I faced were microaggressions, like attending meetings where I was treated differently, especially if I was the only female in the room, and feeling out of place sometimes. I overcame these challenges through persistence and sticking true to who I am. I think it’s essential to be your authentic self and not try to be somebody else. And you know, you will get recognized for your efforts if you stick to being true to who you are.
What is your proudest achievement while working at Financeit?
My proudest achievement while working at Financeit has been helping the company grow to where we are now. When I started at the company, we funded about 150 million in loans in the first year that I joined, and last year we funded close to 1 billion. So that’s something that I’m proud of just having been here through that growth.
How can we encourage more women to pursue senior leadership roles in their careers?
The best way to help women pursue leadership roles is to ensure we have the proper support at work and home. It’s imperative to develop that support network and ensure women are supported as they grow throughout their careers. Although the sentiment of ‘having it all’ is enduring, it is often unrealistic without these additional support networks. Companies need to do better in this regard. The role of the hybrid workplace, and its more recent acceptance, should help with this.